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From the Editor

Handing in its first petition to the police was an important moment for CTC's ongoing Road Justice Campaign (see 'Headlines' below).

Prosecutors, the courts and sentencing are also in sight this year - poor collision investigation, inexplicable charging and prosecution decisions, and lenient sentencing must become a thing of the past.

Keep yourself updated and add your voice to the campaign by signing up as a Road Justice supporter.

Cherry Allan

CTC Campaigns

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CTC’s Road Justice petition calling on the police to treat bad driving with the severity it deserves not only reached over 12,000 signatures, but has now also received a positive response from the Association of Chief Police Officers' national lead on cycling. Mark Milsom, from West Yorkshire police, has given his support in principle for CTC's calls for better-resourced roads policing, as has West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commission (PCC), Mark Burns-Williamson. Both said that they are keen to work with CTC.

The petition, which was recently handed in to ACPO by Road Justice campaigners and road crash victims, urges the police to:

Thoroughly investigate all road collisions that result in injury and death;

Be adequately resourced and trained to enforce road traffic law and investigate collisions well;

Effectively support road crash victims and bereaved families.

Road Justice - sponsored by Slater & Gordon Lawyers - aims to get the criminal justice system to take a tougher approach to bad driving in order to make road conditions safer for cyclists and pedestrians. The current focus is on the police, but this year the campaign will also be targeting the courts, prosecutors and sentencing.

Giving evidence recently to the Commons Transport Select Committee’s inquiry into cycle safety, CTC has urged MPs to demand leadership, commitment to high quality cycling conditions, and funding of at least £10 per person annually.

CTC also called for: targets that encourage more as well as safer cycling; lower speed limits; cycle-friendly design standards; training and awareness campaigns; strengthened road traffic law and enforcement; and improved lorry safety.

Also giving evidence was British Cycling's (BC) representative Chris Boardman, who went through the 10 points of BC's 'Time to Choose Cycling' manifesto, which correspond closely to CTC’s check-list - both organisations worked to support the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group's Get Britain Cycling inquiry in 2013. Photo: CTC's Gordon Seabright and Roger Geffen, with Chris Boardman (middle).

The Mayor of London and London Councils (the representative body for the 32 London Boroughs and the City of London) have jointly agreed to ban vehicles over 3.5 tonnes from the capital’s roads if they fail to meet high standards for cycle safety equipment.

Currently, most freight vehicles must be fitted with side-guards and mirrors, but many construction vehicles are exempt. The new restrictions, however, would include the construction industry, whose vehicles were involved in 7 of the 9 cyclists' deaths in collisions with large vehicles in London in 2011.

The ban involves making Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) and, if all goes well, it should be operational by the end of the year and enforced by CCTV and on-street checks.

As lorries are involved in a disproportionate number of cyclist and pedestrian deaths, CTC has welcomed the move, but says that there are better longer-term solutions for cycle safety that should be investigated too, e.g. removing these vehicles altogether from busy urban streets, with loads shifted onto smaller, electric vehicles with lower cabs to eliminate lorry drivers' so-called 'blind-spots'.

However, CTC has also joined the London Cycle Campaign (LCC) and other organisations in objecting to the proliferation of 'Cyclists stay back' stickers on small vans and other vehicles.